Watford slump to fourth straight defeat as Cardiff run riot
Watford have now lost 4L in a row after a 5-1 humbling at Cardiff, leaving them 22th on 8 points from 10 games.
Last played
Watford were beaten 5-1 by Cardiff on Tuesday 13 October, a result that stretches their losing run to 4L and leaves them stuck on 8 points after 10 matches of the Championship season.
The numbers around this team are ugly. 2 wins, 2 draws, 6 defeats. Eight goals scored, 19 conceded. A goal difference of -11 is the sort of figure that gets managers sacked and supporters reaching for the league table to check how bad the bottom actually looks. It looks bad.
Position 22 after matchday 10 is the headline, but the form line tells the story more plainly: WLLLL. One win, then four defeats. The only bright spot in the last five came before the collapse began.
Where does it go wrong? The home and away splits are strange. On the road, Watford have actually been competitive — 3 wins, 5 draws, 10 losses. At home they have been generous hosts: 6 wins, 4 draws, 7 defeats. That is not a team getting outclassed everywhere. That is a team leaking points in front of its own crowd.
Can they stop the rot? Watford host Charlton on Saturday 17 October in matchday 11, and it is hard to think of a kinder fixture on paper. Hard, but not impossible — nobody in the division is handing out free points right now.
For context, Swansea lead the Championship on 23 points, with Middlesbrough on 21 and Birmingham on 17. At the other end, Watford sit on 8, level with nobody useful. Four defeats is a run. Five would be a crisis.